By Brian Argabright
Christian Tamez will graduate from Del Rio High School this evening as the school’s salutatorian. His journey to the second-highest ranked student academically is basically the American dream.
The son of Christian Tamez Gonzalez and Brenda Martinez Reyes, Tamez was born in the United States, but his parents are citizens of Mexico. As he tells it, it was his father’s wish that the future Yale University enrollee have the best shot possible to obtain his dreams of success and that meant being born in the land of opportunity.
Tamez attended school in Mexico until he was in the fifth grade. It was then that it was decided he would return to the land of his birth and live with an aunt in Del Rio and attend public school. He enrolled in Lamar Elementary and thus began his path towards what he hoped would be a normal student’s life.
“When I started school here I didn’t know any English. They put me in the bilingual program but I really didn’t feel like it was helping me learn what I needed to. It wasn’t until I was in seventh grade that I really had a grasp of the language,” Tamez said. “When I would go to class, I would find the person I thought looked like they English the best and would sit by them and become their friend. They’d help me learn English and I’d try and help them learn Spanish.”
As his path through school continued, there were times that Tamez said he was given the opportunity to go down roads built and designed for students with his talents. However, he always chose to stick to his own paths but it was part of the “experience” he envisioned growing up.
“I always wanted that high school experience I saw on TV and in the movies when I was growing up. The lockers, the groups, the friends … all of that. When I was a freshman I was offered an opportunity to enroll and attend Early College High School, but that wasn’t something I was interested in. I wanted to make the most of my high school years and be a part of as much as I could,” he said.
Tamez did just that. He was part of the Mighty Ram Band for four years, playing the tuba. He became a section leader as a junior and was a drum major his senior year. In addition, he stretched his musical skills even further by playing in the high school’s mariachi band for four years, playing the harp and guitarron as well as occasionally singing.
As a sophomore, Tamez began dabbling in robotics, mainly focusing on the repair of a 3D printer located in the school district’s CTE Building. It took about two years, but eventually Tamez and another student were able to get it up and running again and were able to machine parts necessary for the high school’s award-winning robotics team, which they were both a part of as well.
The summer following his junior year, Tamez began getting noticed by universities. Among them was Yale, a prestigious Ivy League school located in New Haven, Conn. He liked what they had to offer in terms of education and opportunities beyond the classroom, so Tamez’s new goal was to earn his way to become a Bulldog.
“Everyone has their own path. You get to follow what you think you like and if it turns out you don’t like it, then you can always switch,” Tamez said. “My father didn’t graduate from high school. He works hard and is does a lot his work just talking to people, networking. My mother got her masters degree and works in social services. They both had their own visions for my future, but my mind was set on Yale.”
That determination paid off and the vision was realized when Yale offered Tamez a full ride to attend. He said if it wasn’t for that, there was no way his family could have afforded the $86,000 a year it cost to attend the school.
And why did Yale choose Tamez? When you glance at his list of accomplishments, it’s almost a no-brainer.
He was one of five Texas students, and 161 students nationwide, to be named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in Career and Technical Education. He was named a National Merit School and a National Hispanic Scholar. He was also named a National Rural and Small Town Scholar and was a pat of the MIT Online Science, Technology and Engineering Community.
And if that wasn’t enough, he helped found the Science National Honor Society at Del Rio High School. He even had an opportunity to intern at Arconic before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped away those chances.
For now, Tamez plans on studying chemical engineering while at Yale with an eye on working in either the petroleum or pharmaceutical fields. He also plans on getting involved in research and development projects and maybe starting a mariachi band at the 319-year-old university.
His next biggest challenge will be learning all about his new home. Thanks to COVID, Tamez never got the opportunity to visit Yale or Connecticut, so his next visit will be his first. He admits that going in blind makes him a little nervous, but he points out that to achieve your goals you have to “do what you have to do.”
“I’m always looking for things to tell myself, to motivate myself. One of my favorite things to say is, ‘Do not adjust to the norm. Adjust the norm to you.’ You don’t always have to adapt. You’re either leading the charge or you get left behind,” Tamez said. “When the decision was made to send me back to this country to pursue my education, my parents reminded me of one simple thing – the best thing they can leave me isn’t property or cash. It’s knowledge and education.”